When Michael Hawthorne was a kid, his hamster died. But when it miraculously came back to life, Michael discovered he had some type of raw control over magic. After finishing college, Michael was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. in its experimental magical division, but when it looked like he would be drummed out for a lack of useful powers, he met Vetis, whom he sold his soul to in exchange for a magical book. He then abandoned S.H.I.E.D. in hopes that he could "restore" America, which he believed was on the border of chaos.^[3]

Dead Presidents[]

As the Necromancer, Michael used some new knowledge of magic in order to bring all the former Presidents of the United States back from the dead in order to restore the country. Unfortunately, the magic he used caused the undead Presidents that he summoned to be corrupted and super-powered, with a desire to destroy the entire nation and start it again from nothing. Michael was forced by zombie George Washington to use his magical abilities to create an army of the undead, in order to help Washington destroy the United States of America.^[4]

Michael was rescued by Deadpool and delivered to Doctor Strange and S.H.I.E.L.D., to whom he confessed his regret for what he did, and decided to cooperate with them in order to fix the problem he had caused.^[3]

When the zombie George Washington attacked the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Agent Preston was killed.^[5] Michael managed to prevent her conscious mind from dying by using magic to put it in another body, which happened to be Deadpool's, because the mercenary's brain had "more than enough room".^[6]

Soul Hunter[]

Over the following days Necromancer - along with Deadpool, Preston, and Ben Franklin's ghost - tried to find a way to get Preston out of Deadpool's mind.^[7] They managed to infiltrate an ancient library hidden underneath Ryker's Island and find some indecipherable books of dark magic. After the demon Vetis blackmailed Deadpool into killing some people who sold their souls to him for superpowers, Wade decided Michael should go to Hell in order talk to Mephisto and thwart Vetis, who was going to use the reclaimed superpowers of the people Deadpool killed to empower himself to defeat Mephsito. Deadpool therefore killed Necromancer, sending his soul to Hell.^[8]

In Hell, Michael confronted Mephisto and informed him of Vetis' plan, and as compensation Mephisto resurrected Necromancer so that he could take care of Vetis. Michael then used dark magic to free the souls of the people Vetis drew power from, thus counteracting the demon's abilities. After his defeat, Vetis was brought to Hell once more for punishment.^[9]

Michael next helped Deadpool fight against the forces of Dracula when open war broke out between them and the residents of the Monster Metropolis on the streets of Manhattan.^[10]

Deadpool vs. S.H.I.E.L.D.[]

Michael later returned to Deadpool's life,^[11] and started living at his house.^[12] When U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. sought revenge on Deadpool for destroying their Helicarrier and slaughtering countless of their agents, they tried to kill his allies, by attacking Deadpool's residence; however, the friends of Deadpool survived the assault thanks to the magic of Michael and they all escaped to a safe location. After Wade retaliated and murdered all of U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M.'s agents, he decided to give up his life as Deadpool. As he was celebrating the start of a new life with his friends and family, an incursion between Earth-616 and the Earth-1610 caused the collision and destruction of both universe's planets Earth, with Deadpool and his allies dying in the process.^[13]

All-New, All-Different Marvel[]

Following the restoration of the Multiverse at the hands of Reed Richards,^[14] Michael was resurrected along with the other residents of Earth-616. Eight months after his temporary demise, Michael met Agent Scott Adsit in Monster Metropolis.^[15] Michael consumed Wade Wilson's hair in order to help locate the merc in the wilds of Canada and allow Scott to convince Deadpool to spare Sabretooth's life, as he was not responsible for the death of Wade's parents like Deadpool had thought.^[16]

After turning into a celebrity, Deadpool became too busy and stopped associating with Michael. During this time, Michael began dating a woman named Daphne Plepler, whom he had met on an online dating site prior to the collapse of the Multiverse.^[13] While meeting with her parents, the couple were interrupted by Deadpool who needed Michael's help because Monster Metropolis was under attack by a group of magic-siphoning aliens called the Empirikul. Michael reluctantly was forced to leave and help his friends, but during the battle Michael sacrificed himself to cast a spell of dark magic that defeated the Empirikul in Monster Metropolis. Wade was incredibly grieved, and when he eventually went and informed Daphne of Michael's death, she went into a hysteria, revealing that she and Michael had been expecting an unborn child together.^[1]

Necromancer was learned in some limited types of dark magic.

• Michael shares his name with Deadpool artist Mike Hawthorne.